Red Alert 3

Hello Commanders, & welcome to the latest edition to the Unit of the Week series! This time, JulzzZ takes a look at what's arguably the most heavily underused Empire unit, & in an effort to showcase both the general affects of it's use & the potentiality of incorporating it into battle-ground strategies we bring you...

Unit of the Week #11: The Shinobi

Basic Information

Requirements:	Tier Two Dojo
Cost:	1000 credits
Build Time:	10 seconds
Amphibious:	Yes
Strong against:	Structures & Infantry
Special Ability:	Smoke Bomb

Shinobis are Empire's only Tier 2 infantry unit, and has the same sabotage or infiltration characteristics of the the Allied Spy. Theoretically, they're most useful in situations where temporarily shutting down a production structure (& Tier 3 units - see the infiltration part below) might work as an advantage in buying time to build reinforcements, or to delay overall production speed by infiltrating a power plant. That last part makes it be very effective against Soviet players!

For their main 'weapon', the Shinobi either throws a lethal Shuriken star (which are useful against Tesla Troops or Terror Drones as they shoot from a distance) or they attack with their sword (almost like an Imperial Warrior’s melee-ability). As with the Spy also, once a Shinobi infiltrates a structure it will be classed as a 'spent' or 'lost' unit.

Secondary Ability - The Smoke Bomb

The second ability of the Shinobi allows it to become partially stealthed in a puff of smoke, with an approximate duration of 15 seconds. The effect itself is that enemy units don't automatically respond to the Shinobi's presence, and any manual commands that were made by the opponent are reset - meaning they will have to manually select the Shinobi to attack. Like idle units, base defences will also need to be manually instructed.

The ability itself has a cool-down ]timer that restricts it's use to once around every 2 minutes, so using it both effectively and efficiently can be imperative to the cost of battle. All in all, when used correctly it can be the deciding factor in letting the Shinobi survive long enough to infiltrate a structure, or even kill another unit in time before the Shinobi is caught out.

Infiltration Guide

As mentioned earlier the Shinobi as an anti-infantry unit is only half of the sword edge. Different structures have alternate effects when they're infiltrated, and choosing which one to go for depends on what the situation calls for:

Reactor/Power Plant/Generator:

• All power is reduced to zero for around 30 seconds, even if a new Power Plant is purchased or the infiltrated structure has been sold

Barracks/Boot Camp/Dojo:

• Once infiltrated all production from all Barracks will stop for 30 seconds - even if the enemy has a different faction technology captured.
• All enemy infantry will be revealed through the Fog of War for the same amount of time.

Ore Refinery:

• Infiltrating an enemy Refinery will effectively steal 2000 credits from the enemy and add them to your credits.
• In the event the enemy has for example 500 credits floating, they will be reduced to 0 and the 2000 is still awarded for the infiltration.
• It takes around 45 seconds before you can infiltrate the same Refinery twice.

War Factory/Armour Facility/Mecha Bay:

• Once infiltrated all production from all War Factories/Armour Facilities/Mecha Bays (including captured technology) will cease for 30 seconds.
• All units that are built from any of the structures are revealed through the Fog of War.
• If applicable then the repair drones will malfunction and no longer heal units during this time

Naval Yard/Sea-Port/Docks:

• The effect is the same as the War Factory - all production is haulted for 30 seconds and all naval units on the battlefield will stop working during the duration of the effect.
• All enemy naval units will be revealed through the Fog of War for the same amount of time.

Super Reactor:

• Similar to the standard Power Plant but with a significantly extended duration of effect, infiltrating the Soviet Super Reactor causes the loss of all their power for 75 seconds.
• In effect, the rate of production for all structures is slower and all super-weapon timers are paused during this time
• This is probably the most valuable Soviet structure to infiltrate.

Airfield:

• Once infiltrated, production of units from all Air Fields is stopped for 30 seconds.
• All aircraft will not be able to land to re-fuel or re-arm. Any docked aircraft at the time of infiltration will automatically lift up.
• Repair Drones (for the Allied Air Field) will malfunction and fail to repair units during this time
• All enemy aircraft will be revealed through the Fog of War for the same amount of time.

Battle Lab/Defense Bureau/Nanotech Mainframe:

• Excluding infantry and Athena Cannons (for some reason) all Tier-3 units will go offline for 30 seconds, and during this time they'll be "stunned" as if they had been EMP'd.
• All Kirovs and Century Bombers that the enemy controls will crash-land also (even if the Century Bomber is docked in the Airfield!).

Crane:

• This building can be infiltrated, but it does nothing...so don’t bother - it'd be a waste of the Shinobi!

MCV/Sputnik/Prospector:

• Infiltrating a MCV/Sputnik/Prospector will disable the enemy radar for a minute, as well as give a constant view through the Fog of War in relation to the radius around the MCV/Sputnik/Prospector.

Super-weapons:

• Infiltrating any super-weapon will reset it's count-down to the default timer. The default timer depends on what the super-weapon is.

Non Infiltratable Buildings:

• Neutral structures such as Oil Derricks (even when captured), Observation Posts etc.
• Base Defenses

Replays

Here are a few replays to try and demonstrate the dynamic impact Shinobis can have. The first two of which take place in a Vs Soviet match-up & show the detrimental effectiveness of the Shinobi in this match-up:


(More replays are available if needed - ask in the discussion thread)

This next one is of an EvE where a fast a 1-Refinery 3-Dojo & all-in mcv-sell build is used to force the opponent onto the water, with Burst Drones, Shinobis & Engineers being used after to force them into submission:

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